Honorary activities...

It's bizarre to me that a family spends all their time and effort in the week after a loved one's passing planning events that honor the deceased, and then after the activities are done and everyone goes home, the family is just supposed to go on with their lives minus the loved one...

The graveside service for Dad was Thursday at 11:45am at the Riverside National Cemetary. It was amazing...the 21 gun salute, taps being played on the bugle, the way all of the volunteer veterans celebrated my dad's life even though they didn't know him. Billy received the flag...it was such a nice ceremony and of course we took pictures.

Friday was the memorial service at the Masonic Lodge - I was a little weary of what that would be like...mostly because I know little to none about the Masonic Lodge despite the fact that Dad was an active member. It turned out beautifully - Jim Grubb (dad's best friend) did the service and Billy and I did the eulogies. I practiced a lot, so I was quite surprised at how hard it was to get up and talk about my dad's life. Any of you that know me know that I'm not afraid of speaking, nor afraid of crowds, but this was different. Speaking about dad's life was special and hard at the same time. I'm glad Billy and I were the one's to do it, and no matter how hard it was for the two of us, I'm glad we sucked it up and did it. It was just perfect.

After the ceremony we all went to Joe Jost's for a celebratory party of dad's life. We brought the poster boards with all the pictures and everyone told stories about their times with dad. Billy, myself, Brant, Jim Grubb, Mom and Jan wore t-shirts with Dad's picture on them and "A life to remember: Bill Britton: 1950-2008" on the back...so many people that were randomly there recognized his name and it was nice to hear their input about the man he was as well.

Thank you to everyone who came to the services, everyone who shared stories and everyone who cared to celebrate my father's life.

It's hard to just "get on with things"...I know that time heals and takes away the pain, but it seems like I think of him so much more often now than I did when he was here. Since Dad lived in Mexico he wasn't a part of my daily life, the daily going's on of our family. But since he's been gone I can't stop thinking of things I'd like to tell him...things that don't even matter, but since he's not here I just think he'd like to know.

On a happier note, Ellie had a fantastic few days with her Nana. Brenda came out to stay with Ellie while Brant and I went to the services - thank goodness because it was no place for a 2 year old. Here are a couple of pictures of the fun times they had.